By Marina Arshava The Knigths (2ºD)



Spain

Spain is a country located on Europe, mainly in the Iberean peninsula. Two archipelagos belong to Spain: The Canary Islands and the Balearic Islands. Also two autonomous cities located on the north of Africa: Ceuta and Melilla. It has a extension of 504 645 km2 and it's te fourth largest country in Europe. Spain borders the Cantabrian Sea, France and Andorra on the north; the Mediterranean Sea on the East; it borders the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean on the south, separeted by the straigth of Gibraltar; and borders Portugal and the Atlantic Ocean on the West.
Madrid is the capital city and the largest in the country with 605.77 km2
The name came from the latin word Hispania. It was how te romans called the Iberian peninsula.
The country has three types of climate: Mediterranean, oceanic and semiarid.
Spain is considered a multilingüal country. Spanish (or Castillian) is considered the official. Other co-official languages are the Basque (Euskera), Catalan, Valencian and Galician.


Isabel Clara Eugenia: Biography

Isabel Clara Eugenia (or Isabella Clara Eugenia), born in the year 1566 in Segovia, was the infant
of Spain and Portugal by birth. She also was the sovereign of The Spanish Netherlands in the Low
Countries with her husband Albert VII of Austria.
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Isabel Clara Eugenia

Family

She was the first daughter of Philip II of Spain and Elizabeth of Valoirs. Her paternal grandparents were
Charles I of Spain and V of the Holy Roman Empire and Isabella of Portugal. Her maternal grandparents
were Henry II of France and Catherine de Medici'.
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Philip II of Spain Isabel de Valois

Isabel had an elder half-brother, Charles, that his father had with his first wife, María Manuela of Portugal.
Charles was the heir, but with his bad relationship with Philip II and his illnesses, his expectations as
king were not fullfiled.

Her father, in his third marriage had two daughters: she, Isabel Clara Eugenia and a year later Catalina Micaela.
They grew up together and beloved by their father and their stepmother Ana of Austria, Philip's fourth wife.
Philip had 5 children with Ana: Fernando, Carlos Lorenzo, Diego Felix, Philip and Maria. All of them died at early
age except Philip, his heir.
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Isabel Clara Eugenia and Catalina Micaela

Isabel was the most loved by her father as she could help him with his work, reviewing and translating from Italian
to Castilian documents for his father. She remained near and helped him when he was ill of gout until his dead in 1598.

At the age of two, Isabel was promised to marry Rudolf II but 20 years later he declared that he hadn't any intentions
to marry anybody.
At the end, she married Albert VII of Austria.
She never had children because she was infertile.

Candidate for the throne of France

After her uncle, Henry III of France, was assasinated in the year 1589, Philip the second claimed the throne
for Isabel. However, she had no right to this claime since France was under the Salic Law, which forbade
succession in the female line.
Finally, the Huguenot leader, Henry of Navarre, was crowned king of France in 1594 insted of her.

Spanish Netherlands

Isabel's father decided to cede her the Spanish Netherlands on condition that she married her
cousin Archduke Albert of Austria, the youngest brother of her first fiancé Rudolf II.
In the year 1599, at the age of 33, she married him. They ruled together.
Their reign is a key period in the Spanish Netherlands. After four years of war, it brought a
pediod of needed peace and a stability to the economy.
Philip II wanted her to be the sovereign because he made an agreement with the calvinists of the
Low Countries: if the new sovereigns had childrens, they could be independent. If not, they would
be his subjects again. As Isabel Clara Eugenia was infertile, they became subjects of the Spanish
Monarchy again.

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Isabel Clara Eugenia and Albert VII of Austria. Jeton with portraits of Isabel Clara Eugenia and AlbertVII of Austria.

Last years

When Albert died in the year 1621, Isabel joined the Third Order of St Francis and was appointed the
Governor of the Netherlands on benhalf of the king of Spain. She was succeeded as Governor by
Cardinal-Infante Ferdinand, the third son of her half-brother Philip III of Spain.
She died in the year 1633, with 67 years old, in Brusseles.

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Isabel Clara Eugenia as a nun, 1625


You can also see:
http://internationalmonarchism.blogspot.com.es/2008/10/forgotten-infantas-isabella-clara.html

Isabel Clara Eugenia: Newspaper



Isabel Clara Eugenia: Voki



Isabel Clara Eugenia: Prezi



Isabel Clara Eugenia: Dipity